Toronto Reference Library Blog

You never know what you might find hidden in the stacks at the Toronto Reference Library. For example, there is a bay of books by the man who has been called Canada’s most prolific author (New Brunswick Consortium of Professional Writers), as well as the fastest fiction writer who ever lived (Alden Nowlan); that author is W.E.D. Ross. In an interview published in "Weekend Magazine" (May 10, 1969), Ross is recorded as saying “I’m probably Canada’s most read unknown writer … because I use so many pen names. Editors insisted on them for my different types of novels and because I was producing for many publishers.” How many pen names did Ross use? Over 20. How many works did Ross write? Over 350 novels, over 600 short stories and 12 plays.

Ross won a Dominion Drama Festival Prize in 1934, but his first published writings were short stories in mystery magazines, such as "Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine" and the "Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine". From 1957-1967, Ross and his first wife Charlotte published 20 short stories featuring the Chinese detective Mr. Mei Wong. W.E.D. Ross published works in a number of genres under different pseudonyms. For example, he published westerns under the pen names Tex Steele and Dan Roberts.

What W.E.D. Ross is most known for are his Gothic romances and mysteries, frequently published under the name of Ross’s second wife, Marilyn Ross. 'Gothics' typically involve large structures, such as castles or manor houses, from Europe’s medieval past. One example is Ross’ title "Cameron Castle". Typically however, Ross translates the Gothic setting to America. Some of these novels are even set in Canada. For example, the "Fog Island" series takes place on Campobello Island, close to Ross’ hometown of St. John, New Brunswick. 

Very typical are the covers of this genre with a massive house or castle in the background with a single lit window and then a pretty young heroine in the foreground, often in some distress.

Known for writing Gothic thrillers set in New England, Ross was the perfect choice to pen a series of novels using the characters of the American soap opera “Dark Shadows.” This TV show ran on ABC from June 1966 to April 1971 and depicted the trials and supernatural tribulations of the vampire Barnabas Collins and his family in Collinsport, Maine. Ross produced some 32 “Dark Shadows” paperback novels in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were published under his wife Marilyn’s name, having distinctive gold covers with an oval insert containing the title.

Although Marilyn Ross worked as an editor for her husband’s work, she had trained as a nurse, which may be the inspiration for a whole series of nurse romances published by Ross under different pseudonyms, such as Rose Dana and Ann Gilmer. As far as I know, none of these appeared under Marilyn’s name. The locations differ, but the plots typically involve a young nurse moving to a new position and in the end finding love.

What do the initials W.E.D. stand for? William Edward Daniel. Named after his father (William Edward), Ross went by the first name Dan. If you want to research the life of W.E.D. Ross, his papers are now in the Boston University Library.